Chignik Lagoon, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chignik Lagoon, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Chignik Lagoon lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Chignik Lagoon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chignik Lagoon — the short answer
Chignik Lagoon, Alaska: USDA zone 6a, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 8K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Lake and Peninsula Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is Chignik Lagoon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chignik Lagoon's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chignik Lagoon
Each reading below is measured for Chignik Lagoon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChignik Lagoon runs about 135 days between hard freezes (read from Lake and Peninsula Borough, the closest normal to Chignik Lagoon) — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredChignik Lagoon sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Chignik Lagoon
Every plant below cleared Chignik Lagoon's own zone 6a and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chignik Lagoon?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Chignik Lagoon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chignik Lagoon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TRIDENT SEAFOODS CHIGNIK SUPPORT FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- SC04505807DCCC2001 30006 BIA CHIGNIK BAYNitrate · 3.9 mi
- SC04505807DCCC1001 30005 BIA CHIGNIK BAYNitrate · 3.9 mi
- Mallard Duck BayMining · 4.2 mi
- TRIDENT CHIGNIK SUPPORT FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- Trident Seafoods CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Portage BayMining · 7.3 mi
- Unnamed (near the head of Portage Bay)Mining · 7.8 mi
- Unnamed (at the head of Kuiukta Bay)Mining · 7.9 mi
- Home CreekMining · 8.9 mi
- Unnamed (between arms of Castle Bay)Mining · 9.7 mi
- Gary WardMining · 9.9 mi
Measured from Chignik Lagoon's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Chignik Lagoon.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Chignik Lagoon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chignik Lagoon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chignik Lagoon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Chignik Lagoon
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chignik Lagoon average
Your land is one point inside Chignik Lagoon
Everything above resolves to Chignik Lagoon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake and Peninsula Borough’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Chignik Lagoon Average
Chignik Lagoon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chignik Lagoon
- ●One soil character for all of Chignik Lagoon
- ●Frost dates read at Chignik Lagoon's scale: May 13 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chignik Lagoon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chignik Lagoon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chignik Lagoon, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chignik Lagoon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chignik Lagoon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chignik Lagoon average
How we know this about Chignik Lagoon
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lake and Peninsula Borough’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Chignik Lagoon
When does frost risk typically end in Chignik Lagoon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chignik Lagoon typically lands around May 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 3.
When is the first frost in Chignik Lagoon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chignik Lagoon typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 135 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chignik Lagoon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chignik Lagoon sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 11, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chignik Lagoon?
The federal record around Chignik Lagoon is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (8), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 3.8 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Chignik Lagoon?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Chignik Lagoon rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Chignik Lagoon's scale — its 6a band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chignik Lagoon's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Chignik Lagoon’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Chignik Lagoon's own scale — the 8,481 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chignik Lagoon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chignik Lagoon, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 3.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chignik Lagoon's boundary and the 8,481 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chignik Lagoon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake and Peninsula Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chignik Lagoon's 8,481 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake and Peninsula County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake and Peninsula County
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lake and Peninsula County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chignik Lagoon's 8,481 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chignik Lagoon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,481 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 3.8 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Chignik Lagoon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaChignik Lagoon sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides